Outdoor Product Design & Development
252 episodes listed below
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A podcast about the past, present, and future of the outdoor industry. Highlander is made possible by the Outdoor Product Design & Development program at Utah State University and Aggie Radio in beautiful Logan, Utah.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Highlander Podcast turns outdoor gear into an oral history of design decisions, manufacturing shifts and the people who shaped both.
Highlander Podcast treats outdoor gear as the product of accumulated decisions, working through extended interviews with designers, executives, founders and researchers. The host gives guests room to explain how an object, brand or supply chain took shape.
A bootmaker's first nervous foot measurement might change how you look at your hiking boots.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A conversational look at Fashion Army, visual research, archives, and military clothing's place in fashion.
The episode follows Matthew Niekel, author of Fashion Army, through visual research, the pull of military clothing on fashion, and the practical value of archives and collecting.
A gear-history interview that foregrounds founder story, leadership, and the branding details that gave Banana Equipment character.
Nancy Grimes's story anchors this Highlander Podcast episode in the founding of Banana Equipment, the realities of being a woman in outdoor-industry leadership, and the arrival of some of the first Gore-Tex products to market.
A grounded look at product development as a craft and a career path.
Jess Arnold's talk gives a plainspoken look at how product development works in the outdoor industry. OPDD students get a patient walkthrough of the path from classroom to factory communication, with the emphasis on skills that travel: related degree or industry experience,…
A patient look at how OPDD helped turn a reluctant student into a founder.
Highlander Podcast uses its 10-year anniversary series to track Doug Hintze from OPDD student to founder of Landed Footwear, and the strength lies in how plainly it shows a move from friction with the standard scholastic system to a learning path that fit.
A steady career talk about footwear, networking, and not letting work define the whole person.
Doug Hintze's conversation with Highlander Podcast stays grounded in the practical side of outdoor product design. It follows his path through OPDD and footwear, then traces how Landed Footwear began as a side project and how a layoff became the push to launch it.
A focused look at Utah outdoor brands, fleece, and the business pressures that shaped them.
Highlander Podcast uses Todd Aronson's Tsunami story to trace a tight history of Utah outdoor products, with fleece, skiwear, and the financing pressure behind that growth kept in view.
A logo conversation that opens into a wider argument about brand identity and change.
Michael Hoffler, the creative director behind the Arc'teryx logo, walks through how he entered design, how the mark came together, and the tension between preserving a classic identity and reshaping it.
A clear look at the coordination, judgment, and tradeoffs behind outdoor product lines.
The conversation tracks a panel of category and product managers as they talk through their roles, what makes a good product manager, and how they got into the industry.
Outdoor talk from the camp table.
Trail miles, gear sense, and outdoor memory.
Matthew Niekel joins Highlander Podcast to talk about Fashion Army, his work as a visual researcher, and how military clothing shows up in fashion.
Charles Ross, a lecturer at the Royal College of Art, discusses sustainability challenges in the outdoor apparel industry, covering topics like textile waste, greenwashing, circular economy, and regenerative agriculture.
Jess Arnold talks with OPDD students as a designer and developer at SPG.
The Highlander Podcast keeps its 10-year OPDD anniversary series going with Doug Hintze, class of 2020.
Henry Iddin and Max Leonard join the History of Gear to talk about Mountain Style and the influence of UK-based outdoor brands in the larger story of the outdoor industry.
Bill Simon traces a career that starts with technical garment production in Taiwan in the late 1970s.
Chase sits down with Todd Aronson, the founder of Tsunami, for a conversation about the Utah outdoor products industry and the rise of fleece.
Nancy Grimes is the focus here, and the conversation tracks her through starting Banana Equipment, being a woman in leadership in the outdoor industry, and helping bring some of the first Gore-Tex products to market.
Ellie Ward, a senior designer at NANI and Utah State OPDD Class of 2021, traces her path from studying art and ceramics in Portland and Cache Valley to joining the program through Bailey Purser.
Highlander Podcast marks the 10-year anniversary of Utah State University’s Outdoor Product Design and Development Program with Eric McBride, a 2023 alum now working as a product developer at Rocky Mountain ATV.
Frank Clark traces his path from backpacking alone near Escondido in 1970 to designing the Patagonia logo in 1975 and the Gregory logo in 1976.
Erin Narlok of History Factory joins Highlander Podcast as the Outdoor History Summit 2025 keynote speaker.
Highlander Podcast marks the 10-year anniversary of Utah State University's Outdoor Product Design and Development program with Jacob Johnson, a 2022 graduate now working as an apparel and trim designer at Outdoor Research.
Randy Merrell, founder of Merrell, discusses his journey from a custom bootmaker in Vernal, Utah, to co-founding the iconic footwear brand.
Clint Pumphrey’s 2025 Outdoor History Summit report says the Outdoor Recreation Archive now holds over 7,500 catalog items across 957 brands and over 7,500 magazine issues across 278 titles.
Tom Adams says Utah was the first state in the nation with an Office of Outdoor Recreation, and he links that policy moment to Salt Lake’s pull for brands like Black Diamond, Petzl, Mavic, Envy, and Browning.
Patrick McColgan, described as Corporate Archivist and Historian for Abercrombie & Fitch, walks through how a basement room on the main campus became a company archive starting in spring 2022.
Ciera Schelling, an associate footwear designer at Xero and a 2024 OPDD graduate, traces her path from sewing dresses out of bedsheets to a job in footwear design.
Nancy Zastudil, an independent curator, editor, and writer, uses her 2024 Outdoor Recreation Archive fellowship to study the Roadrunners Club of America and its role in women's distance running.
Martin Hogue, an associate professor at Cornell and author of Making Camp, presents research from his 2024 Outdoor Recreation Archive fellowship at the 2025 Outdoor History Summit.
Joanna Black, Senior Archivist at the Sierra Club's William E.
A panel of category and product managers joins the Utah State University Outdoor Product Design and Development program for a conversation about their work.
Doug Hintze, an OPDD alum, footwear designer, and founder of Landed Footwear, speaks to students about his time in the program and the path that led him into the industry.
Lee Turlington traces a career path through The North Face and several other major outdoor and apparel brands.
Keith Byrne speaks with students.
Chase sits down with Michael Hoffler, the creative director and designer behind the iconic Arc'teryx logo, to talk about how he got into design.
An interview with alumni Evan Loomis about his experience in the Outdoor Product Design and Development program and his career in the outdoor industry.
Host Chase recounts a recent trip to Tokyo to collect archival materials and showcase the Outdoor Recreation Archive, discussing the people and brands encountered.
An interview with Ron Smith, founder of American Outdoor Products, discussing the history of backpacking food and the evolution of Backpacker's Pantry.
Interview with Robert Youngman about founding outdoor brands and the early days of hemp clothing in Seattle.
This episode features a DEI consultant advising students on how to research companies and align with brand values when job hunting in the outdoor industry.
Alumni from the Outdoor Product Design & Development program share their career experiences and answer questions from current students preparing to enter the outdoor industry workforce.
An interview with Dr.
An interview with Dominique Showers of Arc'teryx about upcycling and circularity in the outdoor industry.
An interview with the Hine brothers about their experiences building outdoor gear companies and the history of their pack business.
An interview with Jameis Taylor, founder of Greater Goods, discussing his pathway into product design and the upsides and limitations of upcycling in the outdoor industry.